Budget boosts funds for NJ drug courts

Mar. 7, 2014

Written by

Dustin Racioppi

Asbury Park Press

ALSO IN THE BUDGET

Other drug abuse spending included in the governor’s 2015 budget proposal: A $500,000 grant from the Nicholson Foundation for providing nonviolent drug offenders with employment services. A $500,000 grant allowing drug court recipients to draw on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Employment and Training for job training, skills acquisition and employment placement.

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TRENTON — Working with a budget heavily weighted by pension, health benefits and debt costs, Gov. Chris Christie added $4.5 million in his 2015 spending plan to expand the state’s drug court programs.

The $4.5 million would go to drug courts in Atlantic, Cape May, Passaic and Mercer counties. It’s expected to expand treatment to roughly 1,000 people, or about one-fifth of the active participants of the program, according to state figures.

But Christie’s proposed increase is a quarter less than what was requested to pay for judges and personnel in the expansion, said state Sen. Ray Lesniak, D-Union, who sponsored the law expanding drug court.

“He’s shortchanging the program and reducing its effectiveness,” Lesniak said.

The need for drug treatment is greater beyond the state’s judicial system. In 2012, heroin and opiate treatment admissions exceeded 33,000 people, according to state Department of Human Services statistics.

“If you’re really going to talk about the shift from addiction to treatment, it’s not just for those who get arrested,” said Roseanne Scotti, director of New Jersey Drug Policy Alliance, a national organization promoting progressive drug policies including an end to the war on drugs.

Christie has called the war on drugs a failure and says he supports expanded treatment. In New Jersey, that can be hard to find: access to detox and rehabilitation facilities can be difficult even though the abuse is widely characterized as epidemic.

In Ocean County, which has experienced a spike in heroin and opiate deaths, Prosecutor Joseph D. Coronato praised Christie. The governor last year put $4.5 million in the current budget to expand drug courts, including in Ocean County, and has a five-year goal for all 21 counties to be running the program. Coronato, who has waged an attack on drug dealers in his county, said drug court in Ocean has been a helpful diversionary tool that keeps low-level and nonviolent drug law offenders out of the cycle of jail.

Coronato, a Republican nominated to his post by Christie, also applauded the governor’s efforts in a tight budget to expand drug court while maintaining funding for Ocean County’s program. The $3.44 billion budget includes a record $2.25 billion pension payment, and leaves just 6 percent in new spending, according to the governor’s office.

With the additional $4.5 million in the 2015 budget, total drug court spending is $16 million, while drug treatment and placement programs total $35.5 million, spokesman Kevin Roberts said.

“I think (Christie) gets it and I think the Legislature also gets it,” Coronato said. “I feel that everybody’s trying to move in the right direction. It doesn’t move as quickly as I’d like, but my eyes are open that everybody’s getting on board.”

Debra L. Wentz, the chief executive of the New Jersey Association of Mental Health and Addiction Agencies, said the governor’s commitment to rehabilitation services is “a step in the right direction,” but “obviously a lot more is needed.”

She noted the budget also includes two $500,000 grants for helping jailed and low-income addicts find jobs and training.

She also pointed to a widely referenced 2006 study by the University of California, Los Angeles, that found in California substance abuse treatment returned $7 for every $1 spent.

“It is humane. It makes sense from a recovery standpoint and it makes sense from a bottom-line, fiscal standpoint,” Wentz said. “It’s a positive step that people are able to recover and resume their lives.”

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